Luke Evans offered the villain role in Fast And Furious 6

And Michelle Rodriguez will return

Luke Evans, the Welsh actor best known for roles in Immortals , The Raven and Tamara Drewe , has apparently been offered the lead villain role in The Fast And The Furious 6 (or Fast Six , or whatever it ends up being called).

Twitch is reporting that the actor – who’ll next be seen in The Hobbit - has been offered the role previously turned down by Jason Statham, which would see him joining returning members of the testosterone-fuelled franchise including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson.

The rumour mill has recently been suggesting that Michelle Rodriguez will also be returning, and Haywire star Gina Carano is also in talks for a role.

When you factor in other rumour that’s been doing the rounds recently – namely that Rihanna is also in talks for a villain role – Fast Six could see some gender balance restored to the franchise's ass-kickery. Although we're not holding our breath on that last rumour just yet...

Justin Lin is in the director’s chair once more, and the film is expected to hit cinemas in May next year.